There is life in the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premier Division yet and it erupted out of a pulsating Naparima College performance, as they downed league leaders and defending champions Presentation College (San Fernando) 3-1 at Lewis Street, San Fernando.

Presentation College now have only a one point lead over their arch rivals, “Naps”, with two matches remaining. The gap between second and third place has stretched to two points as well, after San Juan North Secondary were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw away to St Anthony’s College in Westmoorings.

Photo: Naparima College defender Tyrike Andrews (second from left) celebrates with teammates during Premier Division action against Presentation College on 31 October 2018.(Copyright Sean Morrison/Wired868)

Naparima play mid-table outfits, Queen’s Royal College and Trinity College (Moka) next—both with no chance of the league title or relegation—while the “Pres Lions” have more unpredictable outings at home to St Anthony’s and away to San Juan North.

No wonder Naparima coach Angus Eve was in a buoyant mood at the final whistle.

“Credit to ‘Pres’—they are a good team,” a beaming Eve told told Wired868. “Unfortunately they met the juggernaut in Naps today!

“I thought that a lot of games before today we let ourselves down with our finishing and probably that’s why we drew some of the games… I just thought today we showed our quality, we showed our class. Now we’re ready.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the hosts though. Jordan Riley maintained his scoring streak with a 14th minute penalty that squirmed under the hand of Presentation goalkeeper Levi Fernandez.

It capped a dominant first half display by the reigning champions who only lacked the finishing touch, with Naparima firmly on the back foot in the southern derby.

“North, south, east, west; Naparima is the best!” bellowed the mud soaked Naparima fan army, as they roused the host team into action.

And, with a routine straight off the training ground, Daquon Foster levelled scores within five minutes of the restart, with a thunderbolt of a freekick from 25 yards that flew past Presentation custodian Jabari Gray and into the top corner. Boom!

Things quickly went from bad to worse as Presentation midfielder Justin Cornwall was shown a second yellow card for a cynical foul on the excellent Naparima flanker Isa Bramble. Presentation coach Shawn Cooper did not try to hide his disappointment on the touchline.

Eve pointed to his halftime talk as the catalyst for their second half revival, though.

“Coaches earn their money inside the dressing room at half time,” said Eve. “We were playing 4-5-1 which is our natural formation. If you realised we took Isa Bramble from the right side and we went to two up front and a diamond in midfield, to put pressure on them and win the ball higher up the park so we then could explode.

“And that was the difference. You saw we had two runners and they didn’t know how to deal with it when we came out in the second half.”

Bramble and his strike partner, Seon Shippley, both got on the score sheet as Naparima applied the knock out punches in the 65th and 69th minutes—each chance created by one forward for the other.

Presentation were all at sea and midfielder Ackeel “Hulk” Jacob might be still sliding across the muddy field tonight, after Bramble—undoubtedly the star of the show—cleverly poked the ball beyond the former’s late, lunging challenge.

In the stands, it was J’ouvert in November as Naps supporters filled the air with chats and songs, which grew louder still when a frustrated Riley was substituted.

The exciting winger has seven goals to his name this season and has arguably been the best player in the 2018 SSFL; but today was not his day.

Spare a thought for Jacob though. Having returned from his slippery adventure, his deflected free kick forced Fernandez into a fine finger-tip save at his near post and nearly offered Pres a lifeline.

Pride was still at stake and Cooper’s charges, despite the numerical disadvantage, were still trying.

However, had referee Cecile Hinds not been in a charitable mood, things may have gotten worse.

Naparima substitute Ezekiel Kesar was felled in the box with the guilty culprits frozen and red faced over their indiscretion. But when Kesar realised that Hinds had not pointed to the spot, he rose to his feet and shot inches wide of the far post.

It was the final act in an excellent turn around for the 2014 and 2015 champions, Naparima.

“I thought it was a good game of football; Pres are not on top of the league for nothing,” said Eve. “But as you saw today, we passed them off the park. We ran the game for the most part. For me it was total domination by one team on the other team.

“Who didn’t see what happened here today [with the atmosphere], that’s why I love to coach in the colleges league. That passion. That drive. That sense of community. You see the both schools. It’s a healthy rivalry and football won today.”

A few weeks ago, Cooper wondered if they were peaking too soon, as they returned nine wins and one draw from their first 10 matches. Now, Pres have just a solitary point to show from their last two outings.

At Lewis Street, the Pres Lions were well tamed. The title race is on!

About Amiel Mohammed

Amiel Mohammed is a sports enthusiast and has worked in communications for Central FC and the Women's Premier League TT.
He has also pioneered numerous projects geared towards creating opportunities for the differently abled such as the Differently-Abled Football Camp 2015 and Focus Football Coaching Academy.

3 comments

The result should not come as a surprise for a myriad of reasons other than Pres being the reigning champs and league leaders as Naps too had been undefeated all season and can now solely make that assertion. Naps was also without their anchor in Pantor as well as playmaker and National U-20 star in the making in Mark Ramdeen who performed admirably against SVG.

One should also simply look at the head to head match ups since the advent of the Premier League in 2014 where since then Naps beat Pres outright every year including last year when Pres won the title.

This validates what coach Eve was alluding to in that Naparima’s woes putting away chances prove costly as they end up dropping crucial points to mid table rivals whilst getting it done against the more accomplished teams. I cannot help but see some parallels with the type of results from Man United.

He is also spot on in stating that Pres is in pole position to retain the title as they just need to win their remaining 2 games since they cannot be passed on points. Naps on the otherhand must keep winning to maintain the pressure as either way they have been a model of consistency winning the first 2 years (2014-2015) the being runners up in 2016 & 2017.

The South Zone will in all likelihood reign supreme once more unless San Juan get some results going their way where their match up hosting Pres in Bourg will be pivotal. It should be an exciting finish to a less contentious and good season thus far.

1 week agoby wired868North, south, east west... Naparima College players celebrate landing the SSFL Premier Division title after their 2-0 win over Trinity College in Moka on 7 November 2018. Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/CA-Images/Wired868